Editorial Commentary

Finding a Remedy for the Doc Fix

A small part of the Medicare mess illustrates a larger fiscal malaise.

Here comes the doc fix. It's everybody's favorite budget time bomb, and it's set to go off at the end of the month. In the grand scheme of nearly $4 trillion of federal spending, the doctor fix is trivial. But it's not so trivial that Congress can ignore it. And the doc fix is a good example of what's wrong with the federal budget process.

Back in 1997, in a pretense of fiscal responsibility, Congress enacted a Medicare funding plan...